Post-Presentation: Some final reflections

Okay. Now that this sickness has passed, I can get this blog up.

Before I begin to talk about anything regarding my presentation, I'd like comment on this project in general. The concept behind it was just great - directed towards encouraging intrinsic motivation, bringing out student individuality, and teaching about the value of dedication in mastery. And then of course, like every other enrichment project, it ended with a presentation. I know that we've had a lot of freedom with our gifted projects in the past, but this one really trumped the rest, and I think that, for the most part, it turned out pretty well.

The fact that we had to demonstrate our progress through blogging was both quite lenient and interesting. For me, reading up on jazz and practicing the saxophone really didn't seem like schoolwork at all - I was sincerely interested and enjoying myself. However, while blogging is far from tedious work, I think that getting up these blogs was the (for lack of a better term) "hardest" part of this project, since the time I had for this project I just wanted to spend doing the other things . But all in all, this was the coolest project I have pursued to date.

Now to the presentation:

Visual Component:
Maybe using Prezi or including animations would have given a neater and more professional look, but for the most part, I think that this was effective enough. At times I felt that it was a little minimalist, and maybe I could have added a bit more supplement by including more material. But I think that for the most part, my powerpoint got the job done. I tried to use some comedy here, and I think it worked out. I'm pretty sure that I was driving the presentation, not the visual.

Content:
I have always been passionate about the music that I make with my saxophone, and hopefully that was evident in my presentation. As for the product, I wasn't trying to show that I could play the saxophone - that was something that was established a long time ago. Like I said, this project was about developing a sense for jazz stylistically, and I tried to show that development with my product. My process was probably lacking a bit, and I originally had more in my script discussing the process. I had to cut out the extra paragraph or two regarding more in depth process, since that was least important to the overall message and impact of my presentation. Hopefully, the overall message that I was trying to get at with my purpose passed through to the audience pretty well. It was simple, but very true, and I think that it integrated into my individual project well. Overall, I think that the content was a little lacking, but it got the job done.

Organization:
I think that starting out by discussing classical music, which wasn't my project, instead of jazz, may have been decent as a hook. Hopefully, the "Forever Alone" picture got everyone's attention. I think that my presentation followed a relatively logical order; I followed the "Guess what", "Here's what", and "So what" approach. For transitions... well, I don't really know if I was actively focused on transitions when I was writing my script, but I guess everything was pretty fluid. My conclusion wasn't anything too fancy, but I think it got the job done by ending with a positive and strong impression.

Delivery:
I was certainly enthusiastic with this project and this topic, and I think that that enthusiasm showed in my delivery. I probably could have and should have rehearsed a little more before presenting, and I feel like I was a little too dependent on my notecards. I don't remember exactly, but I think I also may have stuttered a bit here and there. Overall, I feel that the delivery of the presentation was solid, but could have be further refined.

So here's my final breakdown, into points:
Visual Component: 4.5/5 (Could have been more refined and a bit more supplemental)
Content: 14/15 (More process? Hopefully the purpose/final message passed through)
Organization: 4.5/5 (Got the job done, but could have used refinement)
Delivery: 4.5/5 (Like organization, I got the job done, but I could have rehearsed more)
Overall: 27.5/30 ≈ 92%

Once again, creds to Mr. Perlman and Mr. McDaniels for thinking up of this project. I don't think I would have had the opportunity to work on a project like this in any other class.

The "Modern-Era" of Jazz

Bop was just the first style of "modern" jazz that signaled a strong break away from the Swing-Era. Following the 1950's, jazz was already moving in many different directions. In fact, when I tried to target down at least one or two styles to focus on for this last "segment" of exploration, it wasn't quite possible. Due to an increase in the popularity of Jazz at college campuses, the economic boom after WWII, and the introduction of the long-play album (which allowed for recordings of longer than 4 minutes), the 1950's alone generated many new styles of jazz.

The first of these new styles was "Cool Jazz", pioneered by Miles Davis. As a response to Bebop, Davis strove to create music that kept the harmonic elements of bop, but was much more mellow and soft. In 1959, Davis released his hugely influential album, Kind of Blue.

So this is what I've been hearing every evening on WRTI...

Kind of Blue crafted the beginnings of modal jazz, where literally the music would stay on a single chord for multiple bars on end, and have a very static composition. Another type of Cool Jazz that I discovered was "Third Stream Music". I found Third Stream Music to be really cool, as it combined the control, range, and patterns of European Classical Music (which was the 1st stream) with elements of jazz (2nd stream) to make  a new style that was a combination of both styles. Get it... "Third" Stream?

Listening to a few pieces of Third Stream was both very enlightening and extremely exciting. For someone who clearly distinguished between the two genres of "jazz" and "classical", Third Stream Music was a great discovery of an actually viable and happy medium. The Modern Jazz Quartet, above, consists of both a string quartet and the standard jazz quintet. I seriously think I might want to look a lot more into Third Stream Music in the future.
Also on a side note: the significance of Third Stream Music doesn't just apply to me.... if you're reading this G$, THERE IS ACTUALLY AN ENSEMBLE WHERE SAXOPHONE AND CELLO BELONG TOGETHER YESSSSSSS.

Within the 1950's, Hard Bop, led by the John Coltrane Quartet, also evolved from Bebop. Hard Bop infused elements of blues and gospel-influenced music with the technicality and pace of bebop. From hard bop branched "Funky Bop", which I think today has developed a pretty cliched public image as that "Soul" jazz music.

I went past the 1950's and found "Bossa Nova", or "Latin Jazz". My brother knew a lot about Latin jazz; apparently he had a lot of experience with it in the past. It turned out that Bossa Nova was actually rooted in Brazillian Samba, something that I actually had experience with as well. My brother showed me "Blue Bossa" from the 1970's, which today is a piece from standard jazz repertoire that combines Hard Bop and Bossa Nova. I give it a shot here; some of you might recognize it:

Mmmmmmm... smooooth

With these last couple styles of jazz, I haven't taken as much time as I did with Swing and Bebop, but I think that some of them may have fascinated me more. What learning about the Modern-Era of jazz has taught me the most is just how diverse the entire genre of jazz is. Trying to even touch on multiple styles in about a week was not quite easy; it was a lot of information and a lot new sounds to become exposed to for so little time. When I have time (sigh) I definitely have to spend at least a little bit more time getting acclaimed with these styles.

From about the 1980's and onward, jazz was simply continuing, adjusting, and evolving from the lines of all the past styles. Guitar and electronic instruments are much more popular today. In fact, jazz today is still very innovative and changing. There are always those who continue the line of the past, but lots of dynamic and new artists arrive with every generation. Who know, maybe I might end up being one of those in the future.. ;).


Readings and Resources!
1. Great information from Jim Scully of California State University once again: http://www.csub.edu/~jscully/teaching/documents/105lectures/10substyles.pdf
2. Listening everywhere.
3. For anybody who wants it, this is a concise and nice summary of jazz history: - http://www.moodjazz.com/history.html
4. Once again, that person called a private teacher.

Bippity BE booo dop Dop BEBOP

When I first started playing saxophone, I always had this image of Charlie Parker in my mind. I really didn't know anything about "Bird", as he was nicknamed, but for some reason, I viewed him as some kind of figure as the ultimate saxophonist to aspire to. Maybe it was just because my brother was named "Charlie".

They called him the "Bird".

But I think that not just for me, but for even non-saxophonists as well, Charlie "Bird" Parker is pretty common. He's really an iconic figure in general, and his famous solos and improvisations are incredibly impressionable. When I was listening the Charlie Parker, one of the first things that I noticed was how fast he could play. Although I've had my fair share of virtuoso pieces in the past, I can tell you that they didn't call him the "Bird" for nothing. My teacher let me borrow his edition of the "Omnibook", which is basically a transcription of all of Parker's improvised solos. And just by looking at some of these solos, you can tell that they really weren't meant to be written out. 

Like... this:

Please note that Parker IMPROVISED this while playing at 208 bpm.
just a little fast

However, after a little background study, I realized that the radical irregularity of the music that I was looking at was actually intentional. Parker played a style of jazz known as Bebop. Bebop was developed from about 1940-1945, and was actually a reaction to the Swing-Era, as a rejection of the musical characteristics of big band swing. While the jazz of the Swing-Era was played in large dance halls as tightly arranged performances, Bebop musicians thrived in bars and clubs. Bop music strayed away from the "mainstream" Swing-Era jazz, and was pursued mostly by young and new musicians.

What I found to be the most stark difference between Bebop and Swing was simply the degree of informality that was captured in bop music. In a nearly opposite fashion to Swing, bop was full of irregular phrasing, more spontaneous melodies (larger, stronger intervals), and new, unconventional harmonies.

Bebop music is performed in small ensembles consisting of usually percussion, string bass, and melodic instruments, such as saxophone and trumpet. The smaller format allowed for a lot more freedom and a stronger focus on solos - which was quite enjoyable for me. Perhaps the two most famous Bebop performers known today are Charlie Parker and John Birks (Dizzy) Gillepse. 

So of course I tried some of Bird's solos - I've recorded myself playing the beginnings of perhaps his most well-known standard:

Confirmation:

Some major things I had to consider while playing Bebop:

 - Syncopation and Irregular Accents - in non-musical terms, emphasizing notes in places where it sounds unexpected. This was really interesting to hear withe involvement of the drummer as well, in Bebop, the drummer would often "drop bombs". While in swing, the rhythm section was simply there to keep time, in Bebop the drummer would also contribute his own accents and add to the rhythmic variety of the composition.

 - Extended Chord Tones - while the 3rd, 5th, and 7th notes of the scale were already commonly used by Swing musicians in order to create chords and melodies, Bebop musicians integrated the use of the 9th, 11th, and 13th notes to create more unusual, "modern" harmonies. The chords used were more complex and added a lot more dissonance, or conflict, in the sound.

 - Crispness. Most bop tunes were played at a fast tempo that brought a lot of energy and vitality of the music. Also, in addition to the exposure of the solo instrument, a lot of bebop musicians, including Charlie Parker, utilized a sharper, edgier tone. 

Overall, I think that I may have enjoyed listening to Swing music a bit more than Bebop. With the much more "danceable" melodies and rhythms of Swing, it find Swing-Era jazz to be simpler, more easy-going, and less demanding to listen to than Bebop. However, I'm definitely not repelled from Bebop - it's certainly intriguing, fun, and the epitome of a "jam session".

Readings and Resources!
1. More from Jim Scully of California State University - http://www.csub.edu/~jscully/teaching/documents/105lectures/8bebop1.pdf
2. More recordings everywhere - Spotify, Youtube
3. Paul Williamson - great explanations of common scales and modulations for bebop saxophone: http://digitalpill.tv/Content/2011/06/sax-lesson-bebop-scales-paul-williamson/
4. Thanks to my sax teacher for providing the "Omnibook".

First off.... the Swing-Era

In these next few blogs, I'll be showing what I've learned about some of the few major types of jazz. By the 1950's, jazz was already beginning to move in multiple directions and paths. When a person mentioned that they played "jazz", they had to specify what style of jazz they were referring to.

The first style of popular, arranged, jazz that existed was known simply as "Swing". From around 1935-1945, known as the "Swing-Era", swing was incredibly popular in the United States. Swing, especially within high-schools, may still be the most commonly known today. With that in mind, this is probably why I'm tackling this first - I at least have a little experience in big band jazz (middle school Black Dog Band!), and I've certainly already heard a lot of Swing music on the radio and just in general.
Nearly all swing music was performed with a "big band", or an ensemble that consisted of multiple people on multiple types of instrumentation, "sections", consisting of rhythm, woodwinds, and brass, and oftentimes a band leader.

During the Swing Era, there were many nationally recognized bands, each with their own distinctive style, such as those led by Duke Ellington,Count Basie, and Benny Goodman. Now that I think about it, Swing jazz is probably what first introduced me to the actual existence of jazz - as in, middle school jazz band.
This project has made me quite nostalgic in a lot of ways, especially in bringing back memories of my middle school jazz band days, when I'd just have a bunch of fun with a lot of friends in a large jazz ensemble.

I still remember that we actually played an arrangement of one of Duke Ellington's tunes, Cotton Tail. Although it was fun, there was certainly still a lot of room for improvement back then:

Ahhhh..... 7th Grade.

So while middle school jazz may have been fun and overall not too shabby, I already knew that with this project I was aiming for something much more. In terms of big band swing, there's a term to describe the precision and overall musicality of a performance: "tight."
And I think that THIS is the "tight" that I want to get closer to right now and in the future:

Oh yes.

So, with that in mind, I should probably get to the good stuff - my attempts at Swing! Unfortunately, I didn't quite have a big band of 20 people at my fingertips, so in my practicing, I decided to just settle with trying to play along to the professional recordings.

Some of the major things from Swing jazz that I had to pay attention to included:
 - a strong rhythm section, usually consisting of drums and string double bass, that established a steady beat and constant modulations (changes in the scales and chords).
 - intonation, with the other saxes in the recording, and the entire band itself
 - balance: how a section blends to make its own sound, and how it fits into the entirety of the band. However, when I'm playing below, I'm not exactly in "balance" with the recording, since (1) I want to just hear myself more clearly, and (2) it isn't exactly easy to blend flawlessly into an old 1940's recording.
 - And finally, just feeling the groove. Swing-Era music was meant to be danced to, whether in a slower-waltz or a more upbeat tempo. To be more definite, a lot of songs, including those that I tried to play along to, put emphasis on the upbeats, or more off-sounding beats, in order to create that sort of dancy feel.

But nonetheless, here it is:

1: Duke Ellington - "Take the 'A' Train":

2: Count Basie - "Corner Pocket":

**Excuse the off intonation :\

Readings and Resources!
1. A great history lesson, provided by Jim Scully: Composer, Performer, and Educator at California State University - http://www.csub.edu/~jscully/teaching/documents/105lectures/7swing.pdf
2. Free music EVERYWHERE!
3. Jazz in America: http://www.jazzinamerica.org/JazzResources/StyleSheets/9
4. And once again, my handy-dandy sax teacher

Video Blog!

Here, I discuss my inspiration, findings, and approach to this project. I do ramble a bit, but I suppose that it's all in good intention.

Blog.. 4? IMPROV! How I "practice" jazz.

So....
Technically, I gained the knowledge base for this blog about two weeks ago, but ironically, I've spent too much of my time on this project practicing the saxophone (and A LOT of clarinet), and not enough time getting these blog posts up.

Anyway, with Region Band aside, I moved on to learning what exactly were "jazz" chords. And my teacher's response was really quite unexpected, but also very validating to myself as a musician. The first thing to understand about so-called "jazz" chords is that there is no such thing as an absolute "jazz" chord. Now, don't get me wrong. Certainly, there are chords of all types, intervals, and progressions, and within the genre of jazz, some chords and progressions have become  and so common and so iconic in how we hear a "jazz" sound that they are considered by many to be "jazz chords".


However, in all truth, since the development of jazz in past few decades in straying away from the more defined forms of bop, the definition of what is accepted as "jazz" has expanded drastically. In today's dynamic modern jazz, there's really no such thing as a "jazz chord". Really, there are just chords and scales, nd what makes something "jazzy" isn't nearly as much what you play, but "how" you play it.

Youtube and Spotify have been invaluable in demonstrating this to me. I saw a video of famous clarinetist Eddie Daniels speaking about how to "loosen up" for jazz. He took a simple tune that was known quite universally - "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". To be honest, I didn't know what to expect. The theme to "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" just seemed so common, and while it did have potentially to be played as beautiful melody, I was a little wary. But then Eddie Daniels played the tune, only he added his own spin, his own ideas, and his own improvisation. And as if by magic, I was hearing jazz. The personifcation and character of the music changed completely - it was awesome, and I couldn't wait to try it myself.



Really love this guy... AMAZING classical and jazz musician!

So naturally, I couldn't wait to try it out myself. I started just with another commonly known simple tune - the theme to "Happy Birthday".

* I apologize for the poor video quality... wrong settings :(

** And awkward ending is awkward

Then, I took it, and for lack of a better way of putting  it, "got loose". Now, I was playing jazz. Just listen! :D

So okay, I know that the second time I played it, it wasn't quite as fluid or natural as I would have liked. I might have lost a sense of definite rhythm a couple times in here, and DARN flubbed that high note near the end. But I suppose that's the pressure of recording, and besides - I'm still learning anyway. There's lots of room for improvement, and I don't see myself stopping with playing jazz improv at the end of this project. I mean, I'm already just doing it for fun. In terms of the chords and scales I was using, I didn't know much more than the fact that "Happy Birthday" revolves around the three easiest scales to play on almost any instrument: G, D, and C. Not to say that I haven't looked more deeply into common jazz chords and their progressions, but for this, that's about all I really needed to know about the "jazz chords" I was using. The rest was all based on the variety of rhythms and colors I was trying to use.

My point is, this is why I've really just been enjoying jazz. When I take out my saxophone to "practice" jazz, it really isn't practicing. It's more just having a lot of fun. For jazz improvisation to be good, it has to come naturally, and on a expressive musical instrument, that's probably one of the easiest and greatest things that you can do.

Region Band, with a Jazz Solo!

Wow... thinking back, I've just realized the magnitude of all that has occurred this past week and a half. I haven't really been able to just spend as much time playing around and experimenting with jazz as I would like, since the epic combination of school, missing school, and well... more school has simply been eating up so much time. Last Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, I attended the 2013 PMEA Region 6 Band Festival, and to say that I enjoyed it is quite an understatement. Those few days were probably, if not, the most enjoyable days of my school year thus far. Aside from having a wonderful guest conductor, playing in the region band was really a wake-up call and reminder of why I even love music in the first place - it's as true as human emotion and human connection can become.

Ok, I get it, that last comment was some pretty serious corn. But I love music.

At the festival, I met so many people who had similar interests and passions as I did, and for me to be able to share such interests was really phenomenal, considering that I rarely have the opportunity or chance to connect with people in such a way at Wissahickon. We performed a fantastic repertoire, and there were a few pieces, such as "Lux Aurumque" by Eric Whitacre, that were absolutely beautiful and heart-wrenching. The band even played an arrangement of excerpts from the Finale of Mahler's 3rd Symphony (I HIGHLY recommend you listen to the original orchestral score - although you might want to have a tissue box nearby), and I witnessed an emotional power of the symphonic band that I had never heard before. 

But most of all, what I realized about the entire process of rehearsing, practicing, and trying out the music was that it was simply just a lot of FUN. One of the pieces that we performed was "Metroplex - Three Postcards from Manhattan" by Robert Sheldon, and in particular, there's a really bluesy, jazzy section in the piece that features an alto saxophone solo. Though I currently don't have the recording of myself playing the solo during the concert, I've posted below the youtube link (sorry to those in school) of last year's District Band playing the same piece. The jazzy section starts at 1:20, and although you won't hear me playing, you WILL hear my brother playing the same exact solo I played recently, as Charlie was first chair alto sax last year. 

Finally touching base with jazz in an ensemble again after two years (I did trod a little bit in jazz band in the middle school) was a refreshing and almost novel experience. It was actually really funny, because the first time I played the solo in rehearsal, I was so conserved and way too "proper" in my interpretation. There simply wasn't enough "jazz", and in the words of the guest conductor, I was playing "very nice, but" needed "MORE." So when the second time to play to solo came up, I thought about what I needed to change. I opened up my throat, air, and sound, and improvised around what was written on the music in front of me. And the difference was awesome; I could just imagine myself as a hired sax playing in some sort of old, grungy, and smoky bar. 

And so while, yes, I did miss a few days of school and opportunity to practice for this project because of region band, I'm really quite okay with it. My solo in "Metroplex" was in all truthfulness a really cool and helpful experience to have. With an entire ensemble playing behind me, the jazz mode of playing really just "clicked" for the first time. Now that I'm back home, practicing in solitude once more, I find myself missing the interactive and social aspects of an ensemble, and I find myself hungry simply for more jazz. 

That jazz-related part of me that I've kept untouched for almost three years now is really being reignited with this project. 

And I'll be honest: in spite of all the conflicts that I have with our school's band program, a part of me really wants to play in a jazz band again. Man, jazz is just so cool.